


Dragon eggs -- Dragonriders of Pern AU

by AvocadoLove



Category: Captain America (Movies), Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dragonriders of Pern AU, Dragons, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 13:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5587684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dragonriders of Pern AU where the Avengers are candidates for the next clutch of eggs. </p><p>It's a long-held Weyr tradition for the bravest of candidates to go peek at the eggs before the hatching. Tony and Steve, predictably, take it too far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dragon eggs -- Dragonriders of Pern AU

**Author's Note:**

> Cleaning out my hard drive to get ready for the new year, and I came across this one-shot.

 

"I think this is a bad idea," Steve said.

"No one asked you. Why are you even here?" Tony hissed back at the other boy.

Steve just set his jaw stubbornly -- it was getting to be a familiar pose, and increased his pace. Soon, he would probably be wheezing and coughing, and normally Tony didn't care -- the Weyrlingmaster made them all run slower so the youngest candidates and Steve could keep up with the group, which yay, meant less laps around the Weyrbowl for him -- but tonight was serious. Tonight was life and death.

"What I'm wondering," Natasha, one of the female candidates for the queen egg, said, "is why we're trusting Tybious and Hammer of all people. They're idiots."

Hammer _was_ an idiot, but Tyberious was good looking. It gave him some credit in Tony's eyes. He shrugged. "They're weyrbred," he replied. "Plus, I couldn't find a map to the back tunnels to the hatching rounds, and I looked in all the records."

"Records?" Thor looked askance in Tony's direction. He was by far the largest candidate in their group. They bred 'em big up in High Reaches, apparently. "Are you Harper?"

"From the Smithcraft hall," Tony said.

"His father is Howard," added Bruce.

"Indeed? The Master Smith?" Thor looked at Tony approvingly.

Tony beamed at his friend for name dropping on his behalf. He was already awesome and popular, but a little more notoriety couldn't hurt.

Sure enough, the other candidates in their group regarded Tony with new appraisal. All except little Steve, who's labored breathing had taken on a wheeze. Shells, why was he even there? What search dragon in their right mind could have thought he would make a great candidate? The kid could barely jog across the Weyr bowl, how was he supposed to make it through threadfall?

Tony would have signaled everyone to slow down -- not because he was worried about sickly Steve, but because he didn't want to get caught -- but Ty and Hammer were at the front of the pack of candidates, and gesturing hurriedly for them to duck into a cleft in the sheer wall.

Tony narrowed his eyes. That gap in the rocks certainly wasn't there in the Weyr schematics. And Tony had read every moldering piece of hide he could about the Weyr the moment he'd been searched three weeks ago.

There were about ten candidates in their clandestine group. Looking around to make sure they weren't being observed, they slipped through the narrow crack in the wall, one by one.

Thor practically had to be pulled in, but a Steve slipped through without so much as getting dust on his tunic. Natasha and one of the other queen candidates, Peggy, ghosted in as well. Bruce and Tony were next -- Bruce was from the Healer Craft hall and still wore his apprentice knots as a mark of pride. Tony had ditched his own Smith Craft knots the second the blue dragon had searched him -- Kinda as a last screw you to dear ol' dad. Peter, the youngest candidate, and who was as nearly as skinny as Steve, went next. Last, Clint, who apparently was Harper bred, but had a tin ear and couldn't do much other than juggle everything.

Hammer motioned everyone imperiously for silence, though they were already quiet, the dick, and slowly, carefully, they wound their way through the dark passageway. No one had thought to bring a glow basket, and Tony barked his toes more than once on a outcropping of rock.

Then slowly, his eyes adjusted, and they came up to a glow. There was another crack in the rock -- this one even smaller and Tony had to suck in his gut to get through. Thor didn't have much of a chance, poor guy. But Tony didn't feel too bad for him because just beyond that was the heat and light of the hatching ground.

The dragon eggs were huge --at least as tall as Peter or Steve-- and arranged lovingly by the queen. The largest, the queen egg, which had a sort of glow about it, sat off to the side and piled on its own pillow of sand.

The queen herself was gone, taken her once-a-day meal out in the feeding grounds. They could look their fill.

"Pretty awesome, huh?" Hammer said with pride as if he'd been the one to lay them.

"Who's going to touch first?" Ty asked.

They all stared at him.

"What?" Steve asked. "You can't be serious."

"Sure am." He jerked his chin to the eggs. "It's tradition. Why, you scared?"

"I'm not scared."

Looking at the eggs was one thing, but actually touching them? That took Tony aback. It seemed... sacrilege, and he wasn't usually one to take that sort of thing seriously.

"Won't it... hurt them?" Peter ventured tentatively. "The eggs?"

Ty snorted. "'Course not. Hurt a dragon egg? Weyrbred candidates have been doing it for turns. That's how they notice you -- once they hatch, a part of them remembers."

"That is most unworthy," Thor said in a haughty voice that unfortunately carried.

Everyone shushed him.

But that last bit caught Tony's attention. He gazed out at the eggs, wondering. He'd seen read the records, knew the percentages of failures. There were always more candidates than eggs, to provide the dragonets a choice. Statistically, weyrbred candidates were chosen by their dragon partners than non-weyrbred. Except in the case of queens, of course, but they had their own minds. Queens picked hold bred girls.

Up until now Tony had put it down to genetics. Offspring of dragonriders had something in them that baby dragons liked. Made sense. But what if it were more than that? What if the dragonets were... pre-impressed somehow?

Tony _couldn't_ go back to the Smithcraft hall. He'd burned all his bridges accepting the search. No way was he returning back to Howard a failure.

"Yeah. Okay," he said, and pushed past Hammer to step onto the sands.

"What are you doing?" Peggy hissed. "Tony, you stop right there!" She reached for him, but Tony shrugged her off.

"I'll be right back," he said with a cocky smile, and a wink. Hopefully it covered up his nerves.

"No!" someone said.

But he walked forward. The sands were hot, even through his well made boots. Tony picked up his feet immediately. There were thermal vents just under the hatching grounds, which generated heat. The sand helped insulate it. He'd read all about it.

Up close, the cream and mottled eggs were even larger than he thought. Some were taller than Tony himself. He glanced towards the still empty mouth of the cave, then inched closer, his heart thundering in his ears. Did one egg look better than any other? He didn't know. There was a slightly blue speckled one not too far away which caught his eye, but he wasn't sure if it was because he got a feeling for it and the little dragon inside, or just because it was different from the others.

Before he could make up his mind he heard a muffled curse. He turned to see Steve stagger on the hot sands, then come marching up towards him

"Come on," Steve said, his chin tilted upward. "We're going back. This isn't right."

Tony wanted to laugh at him. He looked so damn earnest, or would if he weren't shifting uncomfortably foot to foot. His shoes looked much thinner than Tony's own -- he had to be scorching out here.

"Sure," Tony agreed, "Let me just..." He reached towards the blue mottled egg. Steve grabbed him and pulled him back.

Tony pushed him and it would have turned into a scuffle except there was a rumbling sound not too far off. They both stopped and looked in horror towards the mouth of the cave, where a giant shadow was growing bigger by the light of glow baskets.

The queen dragon was returning.

"Shards," Tony muttered.

The others had already scattered back the way they came.

Steve turned to run, but it was too late. The cleft in the wall was too far and the angle was all bad. They'd be seen for sure.

Tony caught him by one narrow shoulder and pulled him to the clutch of eggs. "No, it's too late!"

"Whatta--"

"It's too late. Shh!" He pulled Steve behind the blue speckled one, daring to only peek around. Less than half a breath later, the queen rumbled into view. She was so large Tony caught only a glimpse of her gold burnished hide. Quickly, he snapped his head back.

Steve crouched low, and Tony did too, straining to listen. The eggs shielded them from the golden queen's direct line of sight, but if she came over to turn some of them, or to inspect them, they'd be found out.

Distantly, Tony was aware he gripped Steve's arm, and Steve did the same as the shuffling of giant feet and a tail along the sand came closer. The golden queen made a low rumble Tony hoped was maternal and not an actual growl -- he couldn't tell the difference. He shut his eyes. They were going to get found out, and the queen was going to eat him, or, worse he was going to be kicked out of the Weyr.

Nothing happened.

There was no outcry. he felt Steve shift around, peeking around the egg for a better view. He turned back, then leaned up to whisper in Tony's ear. "She's rolling the gold egg."

The gold egg. The new little queen for a new generation. The special, largest one set apart from all the others. Made sense she'd give it extra care, but after she was done with that, she'd probably want to give the others a sniff over.

Tony nodded. "Second she's turned, we run for the exit."

"We'll be seen."

"Better than being eaten," Tony said.

Steve looked at him like he wasn't so sure, and Tony realized at that moment how much Steve wanted this. He wanted to be a dragonrider just as much -- maybe even more than Tony. Would risk death for it. But they couldn't stay here. The sands were too hot. They were going to get burned if they crouched much longer.

"If we're caught, I'll tell 'em it was my fault," Tony said. It was true, anyway.

Steve looked offended. "Stuff it, Tony. I came out here, too." Then he glanced around the egg. "She's turning... nearly there.... Now!"

They sprinted.

The sand seemed to want to suck him down at every step. It felt like one of those nightmares where he ran and ran and still the monster or threadfall or whatever kept gaining. But there was no outcry and he hit the dark hidden cleft in the wall. Someone's hand shot out -- someone was on the other side, e still waiting for him. Tony took it. Thor. He pulled Tony up and through.

Turning, Tony extended his own hand in time for Steve to leap up and catch up. Tony hauled back probably a bit too much. He landed flat on his ass in the hidden tunnel and Steve landed on his chest.

For a little guy he was kinda heavy.

Tony stared at Steve, and noticed how blue his eyes were.

Then Steve balled up his fist and punched him, hard, in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Tony exclaimed. "Okay. Maybe I deserved that."

"Maybe?!" Steve yelled, outraged, and might have hit Tony again if Peggy hadn't (literally) lifted him up.

"Enough, you two. Do you want the Weyrwoman to hear us?" she hissed. "They say she's fiercer than her dragon."

She had a point. With lingering looks back to the clutch, they made their way back out the tunnels. Tony glanced over his shoulder once, knowing the next time he'd see them, they'd be hatching.

He was going to keep an eye out for the blue speckled one. Just in case.

  

**Author's Note:**

> I never could decide which color dragon Tony would impress, so this probably won't be continued. (Well, okay, in my private headcanon Steve gets the blue-speckled egg, which hatches a bronze (Buckyth). Tony would hilariously impress the Gold (Pepperth). But there's already a very well done Tony-Impresses-Gold fic out there. So this is going to stay as it is.)


End file.
